Huntley 'courted limelight'

A dramatic and contradictory change in the personality of Ian Huntley was described to the Old Bailey today.

The sudden transformation came more than a week after the disappearance of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The jury heard that having tried to hide from the glare of the spotlight directed on Soham, Huntley started to "court" publicity.

A witnesses described Huntley in the first week after the girls had disappeared as being "nervous" and trying to hide from the media coverage.

Michael Gee, a fellow caretaker at Soham Village College, said that on one occasion Huntley pretended to be him to avoid being identified. Huntley claimed he was being harassed and demanded the police move their press conferences away from the college.

Yet later he strangely decided to attend them, the court heard. Howard Gilbert, the college principal, told the court he was "surprised" by this as "there seemed to be a contradiction".

The house Huntley shared with Maxine Carr was a focus of press and media coverage of the tragic disappearance of the 10-year-olds.